Pages

Monday, March 10, 2014

Writing ideas for reluctant writers

My daughter loves to write. She writes all day long and on EVERYTHING. My son though is a very reluctant writer and printer and he avoids it whenever he can. So I am always looking for creative ways and writing ideas to encourage him to write since we are still working on his pencil grip and fine motor skills. With the reluctant writers I work with at school I always suggest "tricking" them into writing by giving them activities and assignments that are so fun they don't even realize they are practicing writing. One of the ways I do this at home is to have my kiddos set the table and write each family members name on a napkin.

The kids love to do this. Often I get a little message or drawing on my napkin as well. This activity not only works on printing but name recognition as well. I find that when kids are given a reason or a purpose to write they are much more willing to engage in these activities as opposed to giving them printing practice worksheets.Here are some more writing ideas that encourage kids to write and print:

Friday, March 7, 2014

So do you celebrate St. Patrick's day? We do! A naughty little leprechaun seems to follow us around causing all kinds of troubles! I have posted before about our naughty little leprechaun and you can see some of the mischief he got into in my post called But maybe...

Last year was no different. We went to bed and everything was normal but when we woke up, we were greeted with all kinds of sneaky tricks!

In an attempt to entice our sneaky little friend we made the leprechaun some green cookies in hopes that he would behave and be nice to us.

But he just ate our cookies and made a mess everywhere he went.

He made green footprints and he stacked green cups on the coffee table.

He made a pile of green toys in the playroom.

He even left green footprints on the toilet, made the toilet water green and made a toilet paper tower!

He left us green juice!

He even created a maze with green yarn. We couldn't even walk around the living room without having to climb through this obstacle course.

But once we made it through all the obstacles we found his little pot of gold! Hopefully he doesn't cause too much mischief this year!!

We also have a naughty leprechaun that comes to my school. In my St. Patrick's day thematic unit plan you will find ways to engage your students as they get riddles and messages from a leprechaun, build traps, create wanted posters, a class book and much more!

About Me

Welcome to my blog! I am a busy mom of twins who enjoys drawing,and hanging out with my kids. I am also an elementary school teacher. Each week on this blog you will find a variety of learning activities that focus on playful learning that can be done at home or in the classroom.
I hope you enjoy our scribbles, doodles and drawings!